Python has rapidly become a popular language for security professionals. It’s human readable with an easy syntax, has a comprehensive standard library and easily importable external libraries, is multi-platform, and is suitable for both larger programs and smaller scripts alike. Python is easy to learn for novice programmers yet robust enough for seasoned developers. What makes it such an effective tool for security professionals is the support of extensive libraries specifically designed for penetration testing. For that reason, it makes perfect sense for the SANS Institute to add SEC573 Python for Penetration Testers to their vast list of InfoSec courses.

“SANS SEC573 Python for Penetration Testers” is a five-day class that teaches the basics of the Python language then builds on that knowledge to show how to utilize its specialized libraries to perform network capture and analysis, SQL injection, Metasploit integration, password guessing and much more. You also learn how to use Python to create an encoded backdoor to evade IDS and antivirus controls. This article presents an extensive day-by-day review of the in-person course taught by Mark Baggett, the author of SANS Python for Penetration Testers course and the pyWars gaming environment.